STAR WARS: AFTERMATH
by DhuryamDhuryam
Summary: More than 2 years after the events of RETRIBUTION. There have been murders on Coruscant that appear to be the work of Force users. Tycho and the Jedi are sent to investigate, and uncover a plot to murder one of their own. And Hemir discovers a startling truth about his family.


STAR WARS: AFTERMATH

By DhuryamDhuryam

Dramatis Personae

Allana Skywalker Hodon; Jedi Knight (female human)

Enzetti Lah; Jedi Knight (female Yuuzhan Vong)

Hemir Hodon; Jedi Knight (male Chiss)

Koda; Jedi Knight (male human)

Nelani Skywalker; Jedi Master (female human)

Tsetti Hodon; child (female Chiss/human)

Tycho Skywalker; Jedi Master (male human)

Not quite as long ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

258 ABY Coruscant

A sleek silver starship dropped out of hyperspace a few thousand kilometers from the former capital of the Galactic Federation. Once the galaxy's largest city, Coruscant had been reduced to the galaxy's largest shanty town, or collection thereof.

It had been rather crowded aboard the _Firefacet_ of late. Allana sat in the pilot's seat, heading for the assigned coordinates. Hemir sat in the copilot's seat with their daughter Tsetti sitting on his lap. Both father and daughter were watching a documentary on Star Destroyers.

"rebirth of the Super Star Destroyer was seen in the _Vanquisher_-class Star Destroyer. A joint venture by KDY and Bilbringi, only one such vessel was ever constructed. "

Behind them sat Enzetti, who would eventually be apprenticing the child named after her late sister, and Koda, Hemir's unofficial apprentice. They were involved in an intense card game.

And sitting on a fold-down bench were Tycho, Nelani and C-3PO. R2D2 was secured in a small astromech alcove.

A couple days ago the Galactic Federation, still headquartered at Borleias, had contacted Tycho Skywalker. There had been strings of murders in two adjoining towns on Coruscant. Law enforcement personnel and crime scene investigators had concluded that these killings were the work of Force users. And the two methods of murder suggested at least two suspects.

In the town of Decrepitus people had been found with crushed internal organs. There had been no marks on the bodies to suggest such fatal injuries. The investigators believed they were rage killings.

In the town of Stagnation bodies had been found with lightsaber wounds and fractured bones. It was believed that the victims had been tortured for information.

Many would have thought one to be a complete nutter to bring a one and a half year old along on a murder investigation. But Tycho, who was a wee bit of a conspiracy theorist, acknowledged that the murders could have been a convoluted plot to separate his granddaughter from those most able to protect her. And history had often shown such things to be the case.

Decrepitus

The_ Firefacet_ settled onto an improvised landing area-basically a large area free of debris. A group of law enforcement personnel and crime scene investigators waited anxiously outside.

"We have some grown up business to attend to," Hemir told his daughter as he gently set her on her feet. Tsetti frowned. She seemed to know that they would be doing something potentially dangerous. "We'll be alright, sweetheart."

Allana bent down to kiss their daughters forehead and then exited the ship with the rest of the Jedi.

C-3PO waddled over to Tsetti. She looked up at him. "Tell me a story."

"Of course. Perhaps you'd like to hear about my time on board the sandcrawler on Tattooine."

Artoo made an almost rude series of beeps and whistles.

"Yes, I will certainly tell her that part."

Artoo tweedled again.

"No, I don't think she cares about that, Artoo."

"But I do," said Tsetti's small voice.

"I am Detective Ramon Szarcoza," said the tall human man at the head of the group. There a subtle, slightly peculiar sharpness to his facial features. He had piercing dark brown eyes-almost black, and a rather flamboyant mustache, with the ends drooping a bit.

"Tycho Skywalker," said the Jedi Master, shaking the man's hand. He kept a frown from his face. There was something off about the man. He sent a sense of warning to the other Jedi regarding him. They sent a sense of acknowledgement back through the Force.

"If you'll follow us to headquarters, we'll get started."

The headquarter building was in decent shape. The setup inside was quite primitive, but adequate. Taped to one of the walls was a collection of flimsies, showing various crime scenes. Also there was a map, with two intersecting circles.

Murders like these were different, in a way worse, than the deaths caused by war. These victims were ordinary citizens. Most of them completely harmless and going about their mundane business. They were not enemy combatants, and had no designs on killing anyone.

"So," Szarcoza said. "I assume you've been briefed on most of this."

"Yes," Tycho responded. "According to your map there, the two murder radii intersect."

Szarcoza nodded. "The larger Decrepitus radius has taken place on the surface, while the other is many meters below, in the undercity. We don't know if the intersection is coincidental or intentional."

"If we're dealing with Force users then we must assume that it's intentional, and that the murderers might even be cooperating."

_Firefacet _

"Artoo," came Nelani's voice. "I need you to run a background check on a Detective Szarcoza." R2D2 tweedled back an affirmative, and plugged himself into the _Firefacet's _computer.

Stagnation

Most of Coruscant's surface was covered in cityscape; much of it was a ruined mess now. New cities had been built on top of the old. The depths of this planet sized city, referred to as the Underworld, were fraught with danger. There were native creatures such as slashrats and others resulting from genetic experimentation, not just from this galaxy but also from the galaxy that had long ago been home the Yuuzhan Vong. Also courtesy of the extra galactic race were predatory plants. And lastly there were the sapient beings which had devolved into non-sentience or near non-sentience. It was in one of these vile recesses that the slum that was Stagnation was situated.

A sickly yellow-green light illuminated sickly yellow-green walls. In most of the cracks lived some sort of lichens or fungi. A stagnant breeze did little to alleviate the oppressive humidity in this area of Coruscant's bowels.

Every once and a while a critter resembling a mass of thin, needle-like legs would scuttle out of one crevice and into another. Or a set of antennae would poke out of a crack only to be pulled back in. Nelani, who generally didn't mind such creatures felt itchy.

For the past few minutes, keeping their Force presences small, Tycho and Nelani had been tracking a suspicious acting individual in a hooded gray robe. The person seemed very anxious about something. And if the two Jedi could sense it passively through the Force then it had to be quite strong.

Suddenly, the unidentified being broke out into a run. Tycho could feel the person drawing on the Force. He and Nelani started running after the person, but did not draw on the Force lest they be detected.

A few meters ahead of Tycho and Nelani a lightsaber blade could be heard _snapp-hissing_ to life. There a strong sense of surprise, and then fear and anger. And a second lightsaber came on.

Tycho and Nelani abandoned all pretenses at remaining hidden and ran toward the engagement. They grabbed and activated their lightsabers and rounded a corner. They deftly deflected the hail of red blasterfire that came to greet them.

The shooter was a delicate featured Omwatti woman, her face set-perhaps permanently-into an indelicate snarl. With a lime green lightsaber in her left hand she was battering down the defenses of a male Omwatti. She kicked him in the sternum, and he fell onto his back. He frantically put his orange lightsaber in front of him to block her next blow.

Nelani swung her free hand toward the woman, throwing her into a nearby wall. The Omwatti man scrambled backward toward the corner from which Tycho and Nelani had come.

"He is an abomination. He needs to die!" she screamed as she jumped back to her feet.

"Why does he need to die?" Nelani asked carefully.

"The Force does not belong to him," she spat. "He has disrupted the Balance. So he must die."

"We won't let you murder this man," Nelani said.

The Omwatti woman reached out her hand, and Tycho and Nelani prepared to block arcs of Force lightning. But instead, they jumped backward as they heard the ceiling cracking. There was suddenly lots of dust in the air. Chunks of permacrete and durasteel fell to the floor, and Tycho used to Force to hold back the avalanche of debris.

Nelani helped the Omwatti man to his feet; his attacker was on the other side of the new blockage. "Who was that woman?" she asked.

"My ex-wife," he said. "That's not a joke," he added defensively.

"I didn't think it was."

"Her name is Naariis."

"She said that the Force didn't belong to you."

"She was dying. I had nothing to lose by giving her Midichlore. I injected myself, so that if she died I died."

This man seemed to be a little bit off his repulsor, so Nelani had to be careful how she worded things. "Did you create Midichlore?" Nelani wasn't sure she wanted to know.

He nodded. "The silver skinned man told made me to do it. But he didn't tell me those people would die. Naariis told me I should have just let her die, and she was right. She's murdering people because of me."

Decrepitus

Despite how broken up everything was Hemir was impressed by the cobbled together architecture of the town of Decrepitus. A fallen wall had become a slanted roof. The torn off top of a speeder was a door. It was ugly, yet beautiful. A bit like a needle leg spider.

Hemir and Allana wore all black, to facilitate hiding in the shadows. They could barely sense each other's presences since they were hiding in the Force. It wouldn't do for the murderer to sense his or her pursuers. Both Allana and Hemir could still passively scan for their quarry.

Allana suddenly shrieked. Hemir turned to find her falling to the ground with black energy dancing across her body. He reached out in the Force and slowed her descent. And the black lightning died away. He was relieved that she was still alive. Hemir sent a sense of alarm and urgency to Enzetti.

Another bolt came toward Hemir and he deflected it into the ground with his lightsaber. Another blade, this one red, _snap-hissed_ to life. Hemir Force-yanked and a woman in a black jumpsuit rolled out of the shadows and came up in a fighting stance. Her face was pale lavender, and her hair was like snow. A Keshiri? Her eyes held intense hatred and… recognition?

Hemir batted back another volley of Force lightning and grabbed Allana's blaster with the Force. The Keshiri began to block red lances of energy. He felt his opponent reaching toward him in the Force and put up a shield to keep her from telekinetically snapping his neck.

Enzetti and Koda had paired up to scope out another part of Decrepitus. Though she was quite fond of Koda, she'd have preferred Armedius' company. The Bothan Jedi had helped her deal with the loss of her sister Tsetti. Her sister had died at her own hands, so that her body couldn't be taken over by Abeloth. Enzetti still felt guilty about the whole thing, even though she hadn't been given much choice.

But Armedius was currently at the Galactic Federation headquarters on Borleias. His slicing genius was required to help to defend the GF from a slew of vicious cyber attacks. Enzetti would watch him type a whole bunch of stuff that meant absolutely nothing to her.

_Firefacet_

Tsetti had started crying. "Oh don't worry," C-3PO said. "The fact that Artoo and I are with you is proof that we will be alright." The child only started crying more loudly.

"Blue Milk to _Firefacet_! Button's down!" Hemir's voice shouted over the comm.

"Oh dear!" C-3PO exclaimed.

R2D2 tweedled, and the _Firefacet_ rose up on her repulsors.

Decrepitus

Hemir only had to hold out until Artoo arrived with the _Firefacet_ and blasted the Sith into atoms.

The Sith slashed at him and he spun away, firing at her behind his back and blocking an arc of black lightning as he finished the spin. Hemir twitched his right pinky finger and Allana slid back behind him. He then charged at his opponent, blocking black energy with his lightsaber and firing red laser bolts.

Aided by the Force, Hemir leapt into the air and slashed down with his lightsaber. The Keshiri blocked fiercely and Hemir pushed down with his lightsaber, adding more force to his flip.

A multitude of tiny panels began shifting on Hemir's prosthetic left arm and his hand, which had dropped the blaster, was replaced by a blaster muzzle. As he came down to the ground he twisted to face his opponent. A silver burst of energy shot out of the muzzle and though she was able to block, the force of the impact knocked her to the ground.

As he charged forward, Hemir used the Force to drag the Sith closer to him, and farther from his wife. He fired another burst of silver energy and the Keshiri caught it on her crimson lightsaber. She used the Force of the impact to aid in a backward flip that brought her to her feet.

They leapt toward each other and lightsabers clashed, throwing off a shower of sparks. The Sith Force-pushed further off of the ground and slammed her knee into his chin. Still in the air Hemir began to fall backward. He put up a shield of Force energy to lessen the effects of the Force lightning that came a second later. He hit the ground with a thump, and barely managed to use the Force to keep his head from slamming into the ferrocrete. As Hemir blocked another bolt of Force lightning the Sith brought her lightsaber toward Hemir's head. Using the Force she yanked his lightsaber from his grasp.

Panels on Hemir's prosthetic left forearm shifted again, and the muzzle of the plasma cannon was replaced by a long beskar blade. As it clashed with the incoming lightsaber it began turning a tiny bit orange. Of course. Many of the lightsabers produced on Kesh burned hotter than most; they could cut through stronger materials. Including beskar, he decided as the red lightsaber slowly began cutting through his blade.

Hemir saw a small dagger with an elegant glass blade float out of a small boot holster and sail toward his neck. He reached out in the Force and grabbed the shikkar, to kill _her_ with it instead. As the two fought over the shikkar the Sith's red blade continued to cut through his beskar blade. Hemir would tire before his opponent did. Then he'd be dead, and so would Allana.

Suddenly, the woman flew backward on an arc of dark blue Force lightning. Hemir glimpsed a man chasing her into the shadows. There was the buzzing of clashing lightsabers and flashes of blue lightning. Then footfalls.

A blue hand reached out to Hemir and helped him up. He half ran, half stumbled over to Allana's unconscious form.

"We need to tend to her burns," said the man.

"The _Firefacet_ is coming," Hemir said as he heard a loud roaring sound. "It has a medbay."

"Good." The man stooped down and picked Allana up.

Stagnation

The Jedi and Dezden Rehemma were on their way back to headquarters. Tycho was concerned about bringing the Omwatti man there. He knew Detective Szarcoza was up to…

"Allana!" Nelani suddenly gasped. Tycho reached out to their daughter in the Force. She was hurt, but not dead.

Dezden frowned. "Naariis couldn't have gotten to her."

"No," Tycho said. "Some other Jedi are investigating murders in another town."

"Another Force user?"

"Probably Sith."

"Wretched Redswords."

_Fircefacet_

C-3PO and Tsetti were waiting at the boarding ramp as it went down. The child suddenly stopped crying and became very silent. Hemir stormed up the ramp, followed by a Chiss man with hair even longer than his own. The older man was carrying an unconscious and badly burned Allana. C-3PO-muttering to himself- followed the two Chiss men as they rushed into the medbay. The two Chiss men began wrapping Allana's burns in bacta bandages and bacta salve.

The older Chiss removed Allana's ring, in case of any swelling that may occur. He looked at it a couple moments before setting it aside. A few minutes later Allana-covered in bacta salve and bacta bandages- was covered in a medical sheet.

Hemir stared at the older Chiss man a few moments. He wore black jeans and a black coat with metal studs on the shoulders. His hair and beard were long and unkempt, though clean. He looked like a member of a speeder bike gang, who made credits as a drummer in a grunge band. In the Force Hemir could feel quite a bit of darkness in the man. But it wasn't the hateful, angry darkness of the Sith woman who'd just tried to murder him. It was more of a sad, lonely darkness.

Hemir had never been more confused. The man seemed to recognize the ring on Allana's finger. That same ring had belonged to Hemir's mother; his adoptive parents had kept that ring for him. Was Hemir looking at his father?

And then Hemir tried to imagine the man without his long beard and mustache. The face he pictured in his mind was Thorden's. But he had died over two years ago when his Star Destroyer, the _Duinwoguin_ had crashed into the _Vanquisher_. And Hemir hadn't detected the least bit of Force sensitivity in him.

Hemir suddenly had a vision of this same Chiss man, though younger, holding a Chiss woman. Sobbing, the man lowered her dead body to the floor. And a young child started screaming. Him.

Bringing himself back to the present, Hemir noticed Tsetti standing nearby beside C-3PO. He could not allow himself to explode in front of her. He knew he had darkness inside of him, and had vowed not to corrupt his children with it.

"Yes, I am Mitth'ord'envar and I am your father."

Hemir stood, his mouth hanging open slightly. "Did you murder my mum?" he asked.

244 ABY

Thorden rushed into the family room. His wife Zen'eta'rogen was standing, ankles and wrists bound, against the wall. A Keshiri Sith named Lady Zenya stood nearby; she was using the Force to restrain his wife.

His master had told him that he would have to give up his attachments. Thorden had been completely prepared to just vanish from his wife and son's lives forever. But that clearly wasn't what Lady Zenya had in mind. "If you don't do it, then I will," she said, brandishing a small dagger.

Thorden looked at his wife, and then at Lady Zenya. There was no way he could fight her and win. He walked over to Netar. "I'm so sorry," he told his wife as he embraced her. "I didn't know this would happen."

As he kissed her, he put the hilt of his lightsaber over the left side of her chest. Thorden pressed the activation stud. A scarlet shaft of energy came out of her back. Sobbing, the Chiss man lowered her dead body to the floor. And a young child started screaming.

Thorden's two year son Thraes was standing in the hallway. Lady Zenya turned toward him. "Wait!" he shouted.

His master glared at him. "He saw it," she said darkly. "He will tell someone."

"Not if he doesn't remember. And Thraes is the whole reason I decided to do this! So that he could live in safety. If he dies then I have no reason to serve you."

"Fine," she growled. "Wipe his memory. But if, in time, he remembers-"

"He won't!" Thorden squatted down in front of his son, and held him. He put his hand on Thraes's forehead. The child's eyes fluttered and Thorden used the Force to gently lower him to the floor.

"We need to go," Lady Zenya prompted. "Before he wakes up."

"Alright, I'm going."

258 ABY

Hemir stood with his mouth hanging slightly open. Part of him wanted to reached out in the Force and snap the man's neck. Thorden had murdered his mother!

But there was another part that realized the man hadn't had a choice. This Lady Zenya would have ensured that her death was slow and painful. His father had made it quick.

"I'm not dead, so she'll come after me," Hemir said.

His father nodded. "And everyone you love. If we work together we can kill her."

There was a touch of bloodlust in the man's voice. Such a desire for revenge was of the dark side. But Hemir understood that this Sith couldn't be allowed to keep murdering people. Hemir didn't care how she died, or who killed her. He just wanted it done so that she didn't come after them. "Do you have a ship?"

"Of course I do." Thorden's reply was slightly indignant. He looked over at Tsetti.

Hemir walked over to his daughter and picked her up. "Mum's going to be alright." He kissed her forehead and walked over to his father. While Hemir did not want Tsetti tainted by his father's darkness, he couldn't deny her the chance to see her grandfather and to hear his voice. "Her name is Tsetti."

Thorden's granddaughter stared at him with intelligent eyes, and seemed very curious. She remained very quite. And Tsetti seemed to understand that he'd been through a lot. He looked at Hemir. "She looks like her."

"My mum?" Hemir asked.

Thorden nodded.

Hemir put his daughter down and turned to C3PO. "Anything on that background check?" he asked.

"Artoo only found one record of Ramon Szarcoza's existence. And while it was completely clean, it was suspiciously thin."

Hemir had been hoping the detective had just been cited on a few minor violations, or had been caught with glitterstim or something. But with no information on the man, there was no telling what he was up to.

Hemir heard the boarding ramp lowering. He expanded his Force awareness; Koda and Enzetti were racing toward the ship. "She's alright, barely," he told the two after they entered the _Firefacet_.

They sent back a sense of acknowledgement and were heading toward the medical ward before he automatically, but unnecessarily, pointed to the room. Enzetti gasped and grabbed onto Koda's arm when they saw Allana. He patted her hand. Both Jedi could feel that Allana was in rough shape.

"I'll take her and Tsetti back to the _Krakana_," Enzetti said.

"And I'll ask Hemir what he wants me to do."

Koda left the medical ward to check on Hemir and their visitor. "This is Koda, my apprentice," Hemir said. He turned to Koda. "This man is my father."

"Thorden?"

"I'll explain all that later," the older Chiss told him. He turned to Hemir. "We ought to get to my ship."

"What about Koda?" Hemir asked.

"I expect Lady Zenya to come after your wife. It'll be helpful to have him here," Thorden said. "My son and I will be nearby to give you backup."

"Agreed," Koda said.

A few minutes later both father and son were descending the _Firefacet's_ boarding ramp.

"How far is the ship?" Hemir asked.

"About fifteen minutes at this speed."

"What's she called?"

"The _Sarlagesus_." Alverez, Hemir's adoptive father used to tell him stories of the mythological winged sarlaccs of Bespin and other gas planets.

"Lovely. What type of ship?"

"Custom job."

"I'm related to Thrawn," Hemir said as it suddenly dawned on him.

Thorden nodded. "We're descendants of one of his cousins, not the man himself."

"What's my name?"

"Mitth'rae'sevris. Or Thraes."

Hemir nodded. "Strong, yet sophisticated."

"That's exactly what I was going for."

Decrepitus

It was a custom job indeed. It consisted of a cockpit like that of a YT freighter attached to a long, tapering cone. A curved section started at the rear of the cone and flared outward until its pointed tip terminated a few meters across from the approximate middle of the cockpit. The vessel rested on five landing pads.

"She's on her left side right now. Goes upright like a B-wing," Thorden explained as the boarding ramp, situated behind the cockpit, lowered to the ground. "She has an EV droid brain," Thorden said. "Perhaps, you've heard of the EV 99."

"Of course," Hemir said. A programming glitch had made her cruel. And she had enjoyed torturing other droids.

"This one's friendlier," he addressed his son's disapproving look. "Her name's Evelyn."

Hemir followed his father up the boarding ramp, and was greeted by a destroyer droid. He stared at it. The last time he encountered one of those things it tried to kill him.

"The droideka's under Evelyn's control. As are the eleven buzz droids."

The ship was rising up on repulsors before either of the Chiss had seated themselves.

"I ought to check in with Tycho," Hemir said.

"Enzetti told us what happened with Allana," Tycho said over the comm. "And about Thorden."

"Allana's alright," Hemir reassured his father-in-law. Only barely, of course. "We can meet aboard the _Sarlagesus _after the _Firefacet's_ squared away."

Tycho quickly told Hemir about Dezden. "The three of us will meet back at headquarters and wait for you, there," Tycho added.

"Yes, that would be fine." Thorden looked at his son after the transmission was done.

"There is a Detective Szarcoza at headquarters that we do not trust."

"Never heard of him."

"How did you meet… the Sith?" Hemir asked tentatively.

"I realized that I could do certain things. Things that I'd heard of Jedi doing. But I wasn't sure how to control this power. So I began to reach out for someone who could teach me."

"And you got Zenya."

He nodded. "I wanted to use that power to protect my family, and my people."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Hemir said.

"She told me that I'd have to make a sacrifice. I thought that meant that I'd have to go away and perhaps never see you or your mother again. And I was willing to do that if that was what it took to protect you. But the Sith had something else in mind. She had me do horrible things. I realized I couldn't go on like that anymore. She told me she'd be waiting when I changed my mind, but I never did. I'm so glad someone taught you the right way to use the Force."

HQ-Decrepitus

"This is Dezden Re'Hemma," Tycho told Detective Szarcoza. "He's the one the Stagnation killer has been hunting."

"He's a Force user, I presume," Szarcoza said.

Tycho nodded. Detective Szarcoza had not _done_ anything suspicious yet. This alarmed him more than if he _had _been acting suspicious. He and Nelani had considered bringing it up. But then they would have run the risk of one of the investigators alerting the detective.

_Firefacet_-Coruscant space

Tsetti suddenly began crying, obviously terrified of something. A shiver raced down the Yuuzhan Vong Jedi's spine. The child was extremely sensitive to disturbances in the Force; Lady Zenya would no doubt be along soon.

Koda brushed Enzetti in the Force to indicate that he was ready for action. The Yuuzhan Vong Jedi glanced back at him. Though she was sure he'd come out of this alright, she'd be glad she glanced at him if he didn't. And she had thought her late sister Tsetti would make it out of the _Vanquisher_, which she hadn't.

Enzetti suddenly felt ships, and the life presences therein, approaching the _Firefacet_, which was still too far into Coruscant's gravity well to enter hyperspace.

The _Firefacet's_ bay doors opened and Koda brought the X-wing out into space.

"Oh dear," Threepio, seated in the navigator's chair, whined. The Yuuzhan Vong Jedi reached out in the Force and tripped his circuit breaker. She didn't understand why C-3PO's programmer had allowed the droid to be so panicky.

The largest of the craft was some a YT-4900. It was a rusty tan color, with some faded red lines. The cockpit of this vessel was above and between the two mandibles. The front of the cockpit ended in a dome. There was no satellite dish on the craft; perhaps it was in the dome. The Yuuzhan Vong Jedi could feel the evil presence of Lady Zenya inside. The other ten vessels were _Besulike _fighters. Mandos. They'd been allies with Sith in the past.

_Sarlagesus_

An armature attached to the top of the copilot seat lowered a small screen in front of Hemir's eyes.

"Top turret," Thorden murmered. "Evelyn has the bottom one."

Hemir noticed through the screen that the stars seemed to rotating. He glanced to his right. There was a pair of grooves. His eyes followed the track up and over to the left, beyond Thorden. The effect was that of the rotating cockpit of the B-wing, except that it was only the seats inside which rotated. And then Hemir noticed that the front of the cockpit was clear, except for the alloy of the support structure, like an observation dome.

The _Sarlagesus_ rocketed toward the engagement and came up behind three of the _Besulike_. Lasers, ion cannons, and proton torpedoes shot forth, obliterating two of the Mandalorean fighters.

Thorden pointed ahead out the viewport. "That's the_ Eviscerator_. It's tougher than it looks."

Hemir thought about it. "The fact that the _Eviscerator's_ still around makes it obvious that there's something about it that's not obvious."

"Precisely."

The Sith's ship turned to engage Thorden's ship, firing both of its turrets. As that ship closed in on the _Sarlagesus_ Thorden grabbed onto the debris from one of the destroyed _Besulike _and hurled it at another one that was trying to come up behind the _Sarlagesus_. The pilot evaded only to be vaped by Thorden's custom built vessel. That left five _Besulike_.

_Firefacet_

Tsetti started crying again as something inside the _Firefacet_ exploded. Enzetti put up a Force bubble as to not be burned by the sparks. Another hit caused the lights to dim, and stay dim.

_Sarlagesus_

Far enough away from the gravity well, the _Firefacet_ disappeared into hyperspace. The enemy vessels turned and headed back to Coruscant. Koda brought the slightly damaged X-wing into the _Sarlagesus' _single-fighter bay. And as they, also headed back to Coruscant Koda got on the X-wing's comm and told Tycho about the Mandaloreans.

"Hm," Hemir said. "That was not a retreat."

"No. And attacking us would have only forced us to enter hyperspace," Thorden explained. "Zenya knows that we are morally obligated to go after her to stop the murders. She hopes to set up some sort of ambush or trap."

"That's what I figured." There were no pictures or holos of Hemir with his parents, or of any family members. They would have been evidence of attachment.

"You don't know how hard it was for me, when you showed up at the Ascendency, not to tell you the truth," Thorden said.

"It would have been a bad time for it."

Thorden nodded his agreement. "I knew it was only a matter of time until Zenya learned that you'd become a Jedi. I knew she'd start tracking you. So I tracked you, too, knowing she'd eventually be right behind you. I believe she murdered those people in order to lure you here so that she could kill you."

"There have been murders in another nearby town involving a Force user."

"She must've been made aware of that and decided to raise more red flags."

"You never explained how you survived," Hemir commented after a few moments of silence.

256 ABY

A lone StealthX flew out of the _Duinwoguin's_ hangar as the Chiss Star Destroyer slammed into the _Vanquisher_. No one would be looking for an ancient starfighter with obsolete stealth technology. When the StealthX was far enough out of Coruscant's gravity well the vessel vanished, completely unnoticed, into hyperspace. Thorden gently patted the arm sized ysalamiri-a reptilian creature that created a Force nullifying bubble to evade vornskrs, its chief predator-that lay on his lap. "I'll take you home, soon," he said.

258 ABY

"I never actually felt you die; I merely did not feel you presence," Hemir commented. He looked around. "Must be a darn good StealthX, because I haven't seen one anywhere."

"Had an altercation with some pirates and had to crash it into their ship." Artoo chattered at him. "There was no astromech inside."

"Tycho suspects that Szarcoza's a Mando," Koda said after he shut down the comm.

Tycho and Nelani led Dezden and a group of security officers into the _Sarlagesus_ moments after the vessel landed at HQ . "Nice ship," the Jedi Master commented. He looked at Thorden. "I was very impressed by your people's fighting abilities," he commented. "I attributed it to very good training. But you were coordinating them."

"Yes." It was well documented that certain powerful Sith Lords could coordinate their forces like that. "With everything happening in the Force I didn't think anyone would notice. Though, I wouldn't have cared if anyone had."

Stagnation

The company went into the bowels of Stagnation, and broke into groups. Tycho, Nelani, and Dezden set off with half of the officers down one corridor. Koda and the Chiss took the other half down another. Thorden had decided against brining along his destroyer droid since it could have easily gotten stuck in the somewhat cramped confines of Coruscant's underworld.

Dezden was afraid of his ex-wife and seemed grateful for the help of the Jedi. The woman had seemed rather powerful in the Force. Dezden hadn't been bothered at all when Nelani had told him that they'd have to kill Naariis. In fact, he even wanted her dead, which bothered Tycho some. But, in a way it was better than Dezden being against it.

The Jedi suddenly activated their blades. The officers tensed and prepared for battle. Dezden caught on and activated his orange lightsaber. He reached out in the Force and felt a mass of hostile presences approaching. His eyes widened in horror as he felt a dark and powerful presence among them. But, it was not his wife. Brilliant, now had two bloodthirsty women trying to kill him.

A group of warriors, resembling a throwback to Medieval times, stepped around the corner. Mandaloreans. And at the front of the group was a Keshiri woman, with an angrily blazing scarlet lightsaber in her hand. The security officers began exchanging fire with the Mandaloreans.

Tycho batted back an arc of black Force lightning. And fired his blaster at the woman. Of course, she deflected it. Five of the Mandaloreans took position around her and started firing weapons at the Jedi and Dezden.

The security officers were not fairing very well. Already five of them had perished, and the remaining ten wouldn't last much longer. Only two Mandaloreans were down, and one of them was still alive. If Naariis also showed up the three would be in deep dung.

Dezden leapt back as flurry of blaster bolts nearly chewed him apart. Another blaster bolt hit the ground beside him. Behind him was a long corridor. He batted back another hail of fire. Two Mandaloreans began running toward him. _Smart bucketheads._

And, so with no other option he turned and ran down the corridor. After a few moments the heavy footsteps behind him faded. With the Force and lack of heavy armor Dezden could run faster. He stopped a moment to catch his breath and then continued running. He wanted to be as far from them as possible. He'd stand a much better chance against Naariis than that other woman and her cohorts.

There was a shower of sparks as Tycho and Lady Zenya's lightsabers clashed. He reached out in the Force and plucked his opponent's shikkar from her boot. She snarled as the blade sank into her side. The Sith removed the blade. Tycho shattered the crystal blade with the Force.

Nelani led the eight remaining security guards against the Mandaloreans. She had managed to pull some of their helmets off, making them a little less invulnerable. And then the Mandaloreans began moving backward… in a retreat? Why would they… Nelani reached out in the Force. Where was Dezden? Womprats!

"Mandos," said Tycho's voice over one of the comlinks as a small, spherical object rolled around the corner. Thorden casually hit it with an arc of blue Force lightning. The application of electricity stopped the device from releasing its payload and/or destroyed the gas particles-or whatever was in there.

Hemir felt a sense of frustration from what would no doubt turn out to Mandaloreans. The corridor lit up as they stepped around the corner. Two security officers fell within the first minute. Thorden ran toward them, blocking their fire with two crimson lightsabers. Suddenly, pair of Mandaloreans screamed as Thorden's lightsaber blades turned silver. Dual phase lightsabers could be awfully handy.

Koda used a small hole in the wall to his right as a step. He twisted in the air so that his left foot landed behind the Mandalorean's knee. He continued his spin and kicked the armored man in the back with his other foot. The man grunted as he fell forward. Koda plunged his lightsaber into the man's back.

Another Mandalorean, in orange and blue armor, fired his blaster at part of a metal support structure in the wall near Koda. The Jedi screamed as he felt something sharp-many somethings, in fact-tear into his right leg. The Mandalorean ran toward him. Koda raised an arm and hurled the man into a nearby wall.

A long silver lightsaber blade passed over his head-he felt the heat of the blade, and imagined that some of his hair had gotten singed. An armored forearm from another Mando thumped to the ground beside him. Koda knew he must've gone into shock. How else could he have not noticed the Mandalorean who'd just been maimed? A few moments, or minutes later-Koda couldn't tell-the battle was over.

Hemir squatted down beside his apprentice. The lad's face was dripping in sweat, and he had this far away look in his eyes. The bottom half of his right pant leg was ripped and soaked in blood. Hemir found a sharp piece of metal, and cut away some of the fabric.

Hemir fought back the urge to retch. Through the hash of bloody, torn flesh he could see bone. Koda mumbled something, and then went into unconsciousness.

"Koda's been hurt and might lose part of his right leg," Tycho said after he put his comlink away. "They're bringing him back to the _Sarlagesus_. And they lost seven officers. We've got some people that need medical attention, too." He sighed. "We'll have to worry about Dezden later."

Nelani didn't like that, but her husband was right. They couldn't look for Dezden without leaving the four surviving officers behind. They'd be unable to fend for themselves.

Dezden swung his orange lightsaber around just in time to prevent his ex-wife from lopping his head. He heard and felt ribs cracking as Naariis kicked him hard in the sternum. Dezden stumbled backward, but managed to block fire from her blaster. Though that left him unable to block her lightsaber.

Naariis suddenly shrieked as her body was caught in a net of black fire. She gasped and fell down dead. Standing behind her was a tall woman with a thin, lavender face. "You're welcome," she told him. "But now you have to help me, or I can just finish what she started."

_Sarlagesus_

Tycho and Nelani returned to the _Sarlagesus_ with the survivors of their security detail. Koda was reclined in the ship's rear right seat; the seats doubled as beds. The lad was in a healing trance. Nelani sat down on the edge of the chair and moved a lock of hair away from his face. It was braided, with a bead at the end. It had been common among Jedi apprentices a few centuries ago.

"We'll put him in the X-wing, and Artoo can take him back to the Galactic Federation," Nelani suggested.

"That would not be wise," Thorden said. "My former master would expect that; we'd be down another Jedi _and _a fighter. This whole time she's been whittling down our forces." He glanced over at Koda. "My ship has adequate medical equipment for his injuries."

"We need to look for Dezden," Tycho said. "If he's still alive, that is." He looked at Thorden.

"If Zenya doesn't believe she can use him than she will kill him."

"She wants to use him against us," Tycho said.

"He was pretty unstable," Nelani said. "People like that can be easy to manipulate."

Tycho nodded. "You can stay with Koda," he suggested. It was the only logical choice. Tycho was the most powerful Jedi here. Thorden knew how Lady Zenya thought. And Hemir was his son.

Thorden turned to Nelani. "Zenya will send the_ Eviscerator _and perhaps more Mandos after you. Evelyn can fly and fight fine on her own. So you ought to wait in the X-wing."

"Thanks, Thorden," Nelani said.

Stagnation

"But they saved my life," Dezden protested.

"And so did I. Look, if you don't want to do this you don't have to."

"But then you'll kill me."

The woman nodded. "Decide which option you hate more, and do the other."

He would agree to it, and then when they faced the Jedi he would turn-

"And don't you dare turn on me at the last instant, you fool! I could crush any number of organs inside your body so that you would die a slow and painful death."

So much for that.

"We will do this. Together. And I shall show you how to unlock your true power. And you need a new name, a Sith name."

Dezden smiled. "Darth Deadalus."

Decrepitus

Lady Zenya and her new apprentice led a group of five Mandaloreans. Thorden turned to Hemir and Tycho. "I can keep the witch busy a bit. The two of you will have to deal with the others."

Hemir nodded to Tycho. They'd wanted to save their surprise for later, but it wouldn't mean much if they were both dead. Hemir whispered something into his commlink.

Each Jedi activated two lightsaber blades; Tycho had borrowed his wife's pink lightsaber. And Hemir's saberstaff had two golden blades. The Mandaloreans began firing all sorts of blasters. Dezden started letting loose with black arcs of Force lightning as he led the enemy contingent forward. Tycho and Hemir simply deflected the lightning and batted the energy blasts back at the Mandaloreans. It didn't do much against the armor, of course.

A large wheel like object rolled out from the shadows. It unfolded, a meter or so behind Tycho and Hemir, into the instantly recognizable tripod of a destroyer droid. The droideka managed to get its shield up before any fire managed to hit it. The Jedi parted, and the droideka began concentrating its fire on Dezden. That would hopefully keep him busy a bit.

The Jedi concentrated their efforts on the Mandos. The two Jedi fought as one as blades of metal clashed with blades of light. One would swing one of their weapons and the other would move out of the way just enough to avoid being decapitated. Though not always enough to prevent hair from being cut off.

Coruscant space

"They're here," Nelani said as she felt ships, with hostile presences within, approaching. One of the ships, the _Eviscerator_, had no life presence inside. She took the X-wing out and around the _Sarlagesus_. A quartet of _Besulike _was headed her way, and the _Eviscerator_ went for the _Sarlagesus_. The larger vessels' shields rippled as they began to pummel each other.

Nelani expertly maneuvered out of the way of enemy fire, sometimes dodging by less than inch. She managed to converge her lasers on the cockpit of one of the Mandalorean fighters. She felt the pilot die, and his out of control fighter began to plummet to the surface of Coruscant.

The _Eviscerator_ and _Sarlagesus_ fought with the viciousness of ancient enemies. Many times they had battled. And many times there had not been a victor. The two freighters danced through space as though they were fighters. Sparks erupted from the hulls of both vessels as they traded fire. A massive series of sparks suddenly leapt from the _Sarlagesus'_ hull. As with very intense games of chess, one minor slipup could mean doom. It allowed the opponent to play it safer, to take fewer risks.

The _Sarlagesus _took another hit, and some of the hull plating came off; the deflector shield must have been weakening. There was no way Nelani and Artoo could handle the three remaining _Besulike_ and the _Eviscerator_.

Koda woke up to blaring damage alarms. He sat his seat up and looked at his leg. It was bandaged. He moved his leg experimentally. And grunted as pain shot down his leg. But he had to get to one of the forward seats. "Evelyn," he said groggily. "Can you shut off the gravity?"

A moment later he felt weightless. He used the Force to float himself into one of the forward seats. "I'll fly, you shoot." Evelyn gave a confirming beep. And then the gravity came back on. This droid brain seemed to have a certain perceptiveness not possessed by other droids. An understanding of organic beings that not even C-3PO possessed.

Decrepitus

Even if Dezden could take out this droid, by the time he did so the Mandaloreans would likely all be dead. And then the two Jedi would kill him. He continued to launch arc after arc of Force lightning at the destroyer droid's deflector shield. If he kept at it long enough it would tax the droid's shield beyond capacity.

Dezden ran forward and leapt up into the air so that he was upside down, and above his enemy. He hurled an onyx arc of Force lightning at the top of the deflector shield, and stabbed his lightsaber through the taxed shield. A gap appeared, and Dezden used the Force to send the weapon straight into the droid's head.

"Blast," Tycho muttered. He could no longer feel the energy flowing through the droideka. The Jedi master suddenly leapt into the air and deflected an arc of onyx Force lightning with his wife's lightsaber. Sparks flew as his blue blade clashed with an orange blade.

Tycho swung the pink blade back, and it went through a Mandalorean's chest. But before he could bring the blade around to block, an arc of Force lightning hit him square in the chest. He managed to Force throw Dezden before stumbling. Zenya's apprentice leapt to his feet and launched another arc of lightning at Tycho.

Hemir fired a plasma blast at the last Mandalorean, who went down with a smoking hole in his chest. Both Tycho and his father were in trouble. But the Chiss Jedi was closer to his father, so that's who he ran to. He'd feel like a dianoga if Tycho died because of his decision, though it was the logical choice.

Hemir switched his saberstaff to his left hand and reached his right arm forward. Energy flowed into his arm, and dark blue fire emerged from his fingertips. Lady Zenya replied with her own arc of black Force lightning.

Coruscant space

A terrible though occurred to Nelani as she again failed to take out a second _Besulike_. Lady Zenya had obviously taught Thorden how to coordinate his Forces. So it made sense that the Sith could do the same. Nelani grimaced as sparks burned her cheek. Fortunately, it was minor.

Sweat stung Koda's eyes as he put the _Sarlagesus_ through dizzying spins that taxed the damaged inertial compensator. He could feel energy surging somewhere back in the ship, and moments later something sparked. Koda felt the energy signatures of buzz droids as they went to repair the damaged area.

The _Eviscerator_ was taking some damage, but it wouldn't be enough. Even with Koda's help the _Sarlagesus_ wouldn't last much longer.

Decrepitus

Dezden launched another volley of Force lightning at Tycho. Tycho saw a chunk of permacrete, or something lying on the ground. Moments later it slammed into Dezden's rib cage, with a sickening crack. He staggered and shouted something Tycho didn't understand.

Dezden swung his orange lightsaber at Tycho's head but shut it off before it could make contact. It would be wrong for him to kill someone who'd saved his life. He looked over at Lady Zenya. She was holding her own. If Dezden turned on her she would kill him. She'd know she was as good as dead and would want to take him down with her.

So Dezden turned and ran. Lady Zenya couldn't afford to worry about him if he wasn't attacking her.

Despite fighting with one blade against two Jedi with two lightsaber blades each, one of which had a third blade and plasma cannon, Lady Zenya was more than holding her own.

The speed of Zenya's scarlet blade suddenly increased. The Sith should have been tiring, but she seemed to be growing stronger. She raised her free hand at Hemir. Black lightning hit his prosthetic arm. It sparked and sizzled in a net of black energy, and flopped down at his side, completely useless.

A glass bladed knife was suddenly rocketing though the air. Zenya was not the type of person to possess just one shikkar. Thorden felt a horrible stabbing pain in his chest as the shikkar's glass blade pierced his heart. Yet he still managed to charge forward, and bat aside the incoming Force lightning. Dropping the lightsaber in his left hand he launched a spray of blue Force lightning. Lady Zenya blocked that with her own arc of Force lightning. He dropped his other lightsaber and sent more Force lightning her way. She leapt away from Hemir and caught the second spray of lightning on her blade. Thorden's heart had stopped beating, yet he continued to launch Force lightning. He then fell forward onto Lady Zenya's blade. The Sith deactivated her blade and Thorden's body thumped to the ground.

Hemir used the distraction to get closer to Zenya. If he'd had another working arm… Using the Force he lifted his left arm. Straight into the path of the Keshiri Sith's lightsaber.

Through his left shoulder Hemir sent an arc of blue Force lightning into his prosthetic arm. Dropping his lightsaber he Force pushed against his left arm as it exploded in a shower of sparks and shrapnel.

The Sith shrieked and put up her free arm to shield her face. Hemir flicked his right hand and his lightsaber sailed forward and went through the center of Lady Zenya's chest, the blade coming out the other side. She collapsed to the ground, her spine severed.

Hemir reached out to Tycho, he was still alive. And Dezden was some distance away. The man's cowardice had evidently saved Tycho's life.

Hemir rushed over to his father. Despite the fact that his heart was no longer beating, he was still alive. He took Thorden's hand in his one remaining hand.

"Thank… you," Thorden said weakly. His life force was like a cooling ember. And then that spark of life was gone. Hemir had just been orphaned a second time. Thorden's face was very pale and it seemed to be growing paler. Only when Hemir could see through his father's face did he realize what was happening. And then Mitth'ord'envar was gone, leaving only a pile of clothes.

Tycho put a hand on Hemir's shoulder. "You saved him, Hemir."

Coruscant space

Koda was starting to get dizzy, and his vision had become blurry. And he felt like he was burning. He looked at the diagnostics chart and focused his vision as best he could. Shield strength was at thirty something. A damage alarm suddenly came on, and then went off as the _Sarlagesus _suffered another hit. "Womprats!"

But before the _Eviscerator_ could fire another shot it suddenly turned and left the battle. Koda frowned in confusion. But he didn't care why that ship had left. He sunk back into his healing trance as everything started to go dark.

One of the Mandalorean pilots failed to evade Nelani's lasers. Taking advantage, she fired a proton torpedo; the fighter turned into a ball of red orange fire. She took out the last two without too much effort; Zenya must have been killed, which probably had something to do with why the _Eviscerator _had left.

Edge of Decrepitus

The various monitor readings had all dropped to zero. The _Eviscerator's_ droid brain knew that its master was dead, and thus it had to find a new master.

Dezden heard a loud roaring sound. He looked up toward the source of the noise, and a shiver went down his spine. The _Eviscerator_ was coming right for him. But, instead of blowing him up the vessel landed in front of him and lowered the boarding ramp. Darth Deadalus smiled. _It's_ my _ship now._

Moments later the _Eviscerator_ was blasting out of Coruscant's atmosphere. As Darth Deadalus was debating where to go he felt a dark, powerful presence. It beckoned him. And he would go.

_Sarlagesus_ en route to the _Krakana_

Aside from Hemir, everyone else aboard his father's vessel was asleep. Koda was still in his healing trance, in the copilot's seat. Tycho and Nelani slept in the rear seats. Tycho was also in a healing trance. And Artoo was at a charging station, the droid equivalent of sleep.

Dezden had said that a 'silver skinned man' had helped him create the Midichlore. Someone had helped them defeat Abeloth. Hemir had been considering the significance of that; there was something much bigger at play here.

Hemir got up from the pilot's seat and went aft to check out the droideka. He could work on repairing it with Koda. He felt an energy buildup, and the ship suddenly exited hyperspace. The _Sarlagesus_ had sustained a lot of damage and had to drop out of hyperspace at times in order to prevent catastrophic overloads.

The comm suddenly buzzed. Hemir ran to the cockpit and keyed the device on. Allana's beautiful face hovered above the projector. She seemed surprisingly happy. "I'm pregnant."

Coming as soon I get it done: Star Wars: Echo of the Empire


End file.
